Review of Every 9 Minutes

[Kansas City Teacher]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Every 9 Minutes" by Christina Vitagliano.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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In Every 9 Minutes: A Memoir, author Christina Vitagliano tells her story. Christina’s early life is marked with frequent moving, poverty, and sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather. The secret is hers to bear, and she navigates adolescence and young adulthood with this heavy burden. Will she find the courage to confront her stepfather? Will her mother protect her? She painfully recounts this abuse and how it has affected her outlook, her choices, and her psyche.

This book highlights the devastating and lingering effects of sexual abuse from the perspective of its young victim. The point of view changes as Christina matures, and her thoughts and introspect give readers a front-row seat to the venomous consequences of abuse that seem to penetrate many aspects of her life; resentment festers as she interacts with her mother and siblings and romantic relationships are short-lived.

The best part of this book is the author’s use of voice and how it changes throughout the narrative. The first few chapters have a childish and literal tone, which later becomes more insightful and sophisticated as she matures. As a child, she wonders, “Why didn’t Mommy wake up?” As a young adult, she ponders, “Why did God make people like that?” As Christina tries to make sense of what has happened to her, readers can sense the confusion and self-blame. As she gets older, her words and thoughts become more deliberate and thoughtful as she contemplates her situation. This clever technique highlights the vulnerability of children; they innately want to please people and lack the vocabulary to express themselves. This effectively explains why many children do not report their abuse to caring adults around them.

There were some instances of inconsistent spacing throughout the book on the Kindle version, and the editing is the only part of the book I disliked. For example, there were at least ten times that there appeared to be an extra indent. This did not, however, affect my reading too much, as the content was captivating, but it did happen rather frequently. Because of this issue only, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.

I recommend this book to readers looking for an inspirational story about dealing with abuse or those who enjoy memoirs. There are explicit descriptions of sexual abuse of children and some moderate profanity throughout the book, so people who are sensitive to this should not read the book. For all others, particularly those in daily contact with youth, this book provides a first-person narration of growing up in the perils of abuse and the unfortunate and dire consequences this abuse has on the lives of our children.

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Every 9 Minutes
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[maggi3]

This sounds like an incredible book. This might be too dark of a book for me, but I'm glad the author was brave enough to share her story in such a unique way. Thanks for the review!

[The frant1c reader]

There's a lot one could learn from this book. Thank you for such a good account of the book.

[Miriam nkere]

This sounds so heartbreaking, I can't imagine what that little girl must be going through, and what a monster she has a step dad, good review

[El_limitless]

The trauma of sexual abuse is such a terrible thing to put anybody through, more so a child who is yet even to discover herself. It thrives in silence. I hope Christina finds the strength to speak up. I'm sorry she had to go through all that—great review, by the way.

[Hogwarts03]

Thanks for your review. It sounds like an incredibly educational book as sexually abused victims don't often get the chance to speak up. I'm glad this book provides an insight into delicate matters such as these.

[cd20]

A read a book similar to this many years ago called "A Man Named Dave." It is very difficult to read stories like this and there are so many triggers in this particular book for me. Thank you for an excellent review.

[MsH2k]

When I saw the title of this book, I was afraid it would be in reference to this sad subject. I appreciate the author’s approach in sharing the stages of her dealing with sexual abuse. I hope writing this book helped her in the healing process. Thank you for a great review.

[Victor Yusuf]

I find the book very nice because it talks of the current happenings in our cities. Hopping the tragedy in the fiction will help curb it.

[Kansas City Teacher]

The trauma of sexual abuse is such a terrible thing to put anybody through, more so a child who is yet even to discover herself. It thrives in silence. I hope Christina finds the strength to speak up. I'm sorry she had to go through all that—great review, by the way.

Thank you! In some of the psychological research I have been doing, it appears that abuse of children of this nature is as powerful as a genetic predisposition to mental illness (depression, etc...). So sad!

[Bigwig1973]

This sounds like such a sad story. Makes me want to cry thinking of her wondering things like why her mom didn't know she needed help. A tough book to read and write a review on. Thanks for the review!

[Riya singh]

Very well said children lack the vocabulary to convey such shameful act as they grow up and remember it becomes more and more clear. The narrative style of the author as mentioned is too appealing . That's nice review explaining the whole motive of the book